Page 21 of Snowed In with the Rancher

Her sisters, Pasha and Rayma had texted her that they were together and wanted to video chat. So Triss told them she would just grab more wine then call them.

Once her wine glass was full, she decided to sit in the chair closest to the fire rather than return to her room. She could be quiet and not disturb the slumbering sexy enigma upstairs while chatting with her sisters. Well, she might need to tell Rayma to keep her voice down, but Pasha had little kids, she knew how to be quiet.

It was just that Triss’s room was so boring and she wasn’t tired, even though she should be given how early she woke up and how much physical labor she’d done that day. But her brain couldn’t turn off.

And no way was she in the mood to read one of the many romance novels Pasha kept suggesting she read. Why read about couples getting their happily ever after when Triss was sitting there trying to reassemble the pieces of her shattered heart with Elmer’s glue and it just wasn’t holding.

Pulling a knit blanket over her legs, she called her sisters and after four rings the video engaged and up popped their beautiful faces.

“Hey sexy lady,” Rayma cooed.

“Hi,” Triss said, forcing a smile.

Pasha made a pouty face. “You look sad. What’s wrong?”

Sipping her wine, Triss heaved a sigh that made her shoulders slump. “Lorne dumped me.”

“He what?” Rayma screamed, loud enough that Triss winced and pulled the tablet away from her face.

“Volume,” Pasha reprimanded with an eye roll.

“He what?” Rayma repeated this time with an exaggerated whisper.

“He dumped me,” Triss said again. “Reconnected with his culinary school girlfriend—Echo—and realized they’re souffle mates. He’s moving her in to our apartment.”

“But you’re on the lease,” Rayma protested. “He can’t do that.”

“It’s not worth fighting him over. I don’t like the place enough to make it a battle. I’ve packaged up all of my things and they’re being put into storage by a friend of Hannah’s who owns a moving company. I’ll deal with it all and find a place to live when I get back. If I have to live in an Airbnb for a month, then so be it.” The fight had pretty much gone out of her the moment Lorne told her she needed to move out. Yes, she could have put up a stink and taken it to the landlord, but did she really want to have any more necessary dealings with an asshole like Lorne than was necessary? If he treated her so poorly after three years of dating, she just needed to be done with him and cut her losses.

Her heart still hurt like a fresh burn despite that revelation, though, there was no escaping it.

“You’re spending Christmas with Hannah, then?” Pasha asked.

“Was supposed to, but her flight from Manhattan was rerouted to Oklahoma because of snow, then she slipped on black ice and broke her ankle and hip. So now she’s in the hospital.”

Rayma’s button nose wrinkled. “In Oklahoma?”

“Yep.”

“And you’re where?” Pasha, always the serious one, and a total mom was full of concern with zero patience for superfluous details. “Who are you with? Are you okay?”

“I’m in Colorado, outside of Denver at Hannah’s uncles’ ranch.”

“Why?” her sisters said at the same time.

“Because this was where Hannah and I were going to spend Christmas and I arrived and she didn’t and now I’m stuck here because of the snow.”

“With who?” Rayma asked, her brown eyes squinting. All five of the Young sisters looked a lot alike. Same caramel-brown hair, same gold-flecked brown eyes and naturally tanned skin. But of all of them, Rayma and Pasha looked the most similar, particularly since they both chose to have thick highlights of dark blonde in their hair and styled it the same way, too.

“How are the kids?” Triss asked.

“They’re fine,” Pasha responded deadpanned. “Who are you at this ranch with? Should we be worried? I’ll call the Denver police and have them drive out there for a wellness check.”

Just then a door behind Triss opened, sending a gust of icy air careening through the house.

A shiver wracked her body involuntarily and she tugged the blanket around her tighter as she craned her neck around just in time to see a surprised-looking Asher, wearing nothing but a low-slung towel on his hips, walk out from the laundry room.

“Holy fuck, who is that?” Rayma demanded. “Man’s like a goddamn ice cream cone I wanna lick until he melts all over my face.”

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